With the weather finally turning sunny and warm I had picnics on the brain so I decided to make a Liberty Picnic Set of ten napkins and one crisp white picnic cloth, which can be used as a tablecloth or a blanket depending on your favorite picnic style. I embroidered the edges of all the napkins and the cloth with a retro looking pink and blue triangle stitch. I love the idea of everyone having a different but equally beautiful napkin. I also love the idea of taking the delicate looking (but actually quite sturdy), high class Liberty Tana Lawn out of it’s usual dressy context and bringing it outside for a lovely picnic lunch, because what good is such beautiful fabric if you don’t use and enjoy it! –Molly

Make two little snips about 1 inch from both of the raw edges and rip along the whole width (selvage to selvage) of the fabric along each side. The ripped piece should measure approximately 108-inches wide x 52-inches long.

Press ripped edges to get them flat again.

I know it’s a bit of a cheat, but we will not be cutting off the selvages of the fabric. Instead, fold the fabric in half so that the selvages meet. Make sure everything is laying as flat as possible and pin around all three open edges (the fourth edge is closed because it’s a fold).

Leave a 5-inch opening along one side for turning the cloth right-side out when you’re done sewing.

Sew Cloth

With a 5/8-inch seam allowance sew the 3 pinned sides together, remember to leave a 5-inch opening in the middle of one side for turning the cloth right-side out.

Back stitch at the beginning and end of your seam.

Snip the corners approximately 1/8-inch from the corner seams.

Turn the piece right-side out through the 5-inch opening, poke the corners out for a sharp point, just like you did for the napkins.

Press the cloth being sure to iron the gap so that the seam allowances are neatly tucked inside.

Pin around all four sides of the cloth.

Top stitch with a 1/2-inch seam along all sides of the blanket, crossing each corner as shown above. Back stitch at the beginning and end of each side. The top stitching will close the gap!

Embroider Edges: Step One

Using the blue embroidery thread, follow the steps for embroidering the edges of the napkins (part one) with a running stitch from above.

Embroider Edges: Step Two

Using the pink embroidery thread, follow the steps for embroidering the edges of the napkins (part two) with the triangle stitch from above, completing 10 triangle stitches on either side of every corner. (This way the pretty triangle stitch is still represented but you don’t have to drive yourself crazy doing it all the way around the cloth!)

Iron the cloth one last time, pack up some sandwiches, and have a great Memorial Day!

2 Responses to A Liberty Picnic

Hi, I am looking at your napkin projects…and clearly I am a sewing novice, but what type of fabric are you using for those? I only use fabric napkins, and so have decided to try making some myself, but I am not sure what type of fabric to use. I’m not sure if this is the spot for this question or not! Thanks in advance for your help!